Friday, January 20, 2012

Let me start out by stating that I am a died-in-the-wool, unapologetic capitalist.

In its purest form, capitalism is an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.

It is a sad thing that in our country capitalism has been corrupted by politicians who have tried to use it to their advantage to get re-elected and business have tried to use it to their advantage to influence politicians to pass laws and/or regulations that favor them.

In a proper capitalistic society, a person (or persons) comes up with an idea that he believes people need or want, finds investors who believe the idea is good, produce the product or service and sell it to as many people as they can...if it will sell at all.

That last part is called "risk," for in a capitalist society a product might not sell at all or it might sell like iPods, it even become an icon like the Slinky.

Productivity is the key in a capitalist society.

When goods and services are produced, they are then sold at a profit. If they are not sold at a profit, the company that makes or provides them goes broke.

What has happened in our country is that capitalism and politics has become very mixed, like eggs in cake batter. The result is a sort of hybrid capitalism that produces the results mentioned above.

What we need is to get government out of capitalism and capitalism out of government.

The first person to come up with a viable way to do that will be the most important person in history.

I watched Charlie Rose (my favorite interviewer to hate) interview George Lucas, a capitalist who hates capitalism, even though he has benefited from it in his every endeavor.

For those who don't know (is there such a one?), Lucas is the one who gave us "Star Wars," and other really stirring movies.

In the interview, he was exercising his capitalism by promoting his newest film, "Red Tails."

I'm quite certain that he hopes the movie makes a profit.

To Rose's credit, he did note at the beginning of the interview that Lucas benefited from capitalism while philosophically being opposed to it, with which Lucas agreed.

Is that hypocrisy?

I don't think so, but you might disagree with me. That's OK. This is America and you have the right to be wrong.

The cry that capitalism is based on greed is a false one, even though there certainly are greedy capitalists, and in abundance, too.

But that is not capitalism's fault. That is the fault of a character flaw that is common to mankind.

There MUST be laws governing capitalism. More correctly there should be ONE law governing capitalism: Don't cause any physical or other harm to others.

How one defines "harm" might be open to discussion, but it does not need to take the form of endless government intrusion.

No business should be too big to fail, and no business should be restricted from succeeding.

We would be much better off as a country if government had kept its big nose out of business...period.

Then the legal system, or natural business forces, could deal with those who abuse the capitalistic system.

(The efficacy of the legal system is a topic for another day.)

Folks like those in OWS have made it clear that they don't understand business, capitalism, profits, payrolls, expenses or anything else about almost anything.

But in-and-of itself, capitalism has provided the most good for the most people of any system ever devised.

More "poor" people have been helped by capitalism than by any other system. More charities have been helped by capitalists than by any other world system. More Americans have been helped by capitalism than by any other system.

The only "evils" of real capitalism are those imagined by Utopians who think a benevolent government of dictators or despots can solve peoples' problems.

Joe, I've written many articles at my place about how capitalism really can't work without goodness, without people guided by something which keeps them from hurting others in any way in their own perfectly understandable and admirable pursuit of being the best they can be.

There are all sorts of media-made terms now like CRONY CAPITALISM, which make capitalism sound all bad; we understand the difference, many voting Americans don't. OUr kids are schooled to believe capitalism is for 'pigs', and the very rich journalists and news readers are on that bandwagon seemingly unaware that they won't look quite as good in Mao jackets as they do those Prada heels and low cut, sleeveless dresses they wear to give morning news, which capitalism pays for, for example.

The left wants to legislate human nature and it can't be legislated. We need to encourage capitalism as you suggest and clean out those who hurt others on an intentional wide-scaled basis, hiding behind the cloak of "evil capitalism"...

Of course it's easy for the media to bash capitalism, since those for whom capitalism has not worked out so well are out in the open for everyone to see, as they languish in the gutter. And their subsequent sob story (rehearsed thoroughly) is relayed to the rolling cameras with a maximum of emotion.

The successful capitalists go relatively unseen, except as seen from the street of their gated communities.

LUCAS: Well, I grew up in the '60s. I grew up in San Francisco. And so I'm informed in a certain kind of way about, you know, believing in democracy and believing in America. And I'm a very ardent patriot. But I'm also a very ardent believer in democracy, not capitalist democracy. And I do not believe that the rich should be able to buy the government. And that's just the way I feel.

For those who don't know (is there such a one?), Lucas is the one who gave us "Star Wars," and other really stirring movies.

In the interview, he was exercising his capitalism by promoting his newest film, "Red Tails."

I'm quite certain that he hopes the movie makes a profit.

-------------

He's also a hack. He didn't even direct the second and third films in the Star War series, not that it mattered.His ego finally got hold of him and he produced and directed Episode 1 and we all know the crap that produced.

"Red Tails" is poorly reviewed and seems to have all the downside of a Lucas film. His ego doesn't permit him to admit he doesn't make very good films.

I'd contrast someone like Lucas who concentrates on blockbusters to the subsidized film makers of the French New Wave or any of many other subsidized film schools (including Iran's until recently).

The films were profitable although not on the scale of Star Wars and being subsidized allowed directors to be unconventional, experiment with technique and themes.

It reached America and here it became the "New Hollywood" which died almost before it was born with only Robert Altman able to fight it out for a career. Capitalism killed it.

So if you want to make a large profit make your film under capitalism. If you want to make an artistic statement try a more socialist environment although the Japanese studio system of the 50's and 60's was a bit of an exception.

Sorry for the rant but I can't sand Lucas or the distribution system he has helped create.

Joe what form does your capitalism take? Laissez-faire or do you agree with the classical economists from Adam Smith on who understood that capitalism MUST be regulated in order not to become oppressive.

I guess nothing ever works for us. we’re fools, of course–bucking the inside plus a 15 percent take,but how are you going to tell a dreamerthere’s a 15 percent take on thedream? he’ll just laugh and say,is that all?

Hey Hip Suburban White Guy XO, thanks for lending me that sexy lady book last nigh, the only trouble was that wen I got home and tried to read it, I found that the pages were all stuck together. What gives?

Time (EST)

About Me

I was born in Miami, Florida, the son of an Air Force officer, traveled the world, was saved at age 17, and have served the Lord since. That's me on the left and my lovely wife, Bonnie...the pretty one...on the right.

There Are But A Few Rules To Follow

1. Absolutely no foul language (including the use of asterisks). If you are not man or woman enough to control your language, you are not welcome here...go somewhere else.

2. I am not looking for strings of commenters arguing with each other, so confine your comments to the topic at hand and address your comments to me, unless you can be exceptionally gracious and polite.

3. Since this is my blog, I am the sole arbiter of what can be placed on this blog. My decisions are final and without recourse. All anonymous comments, unsigned, will be deleted, as will ad hominem attacks against me or others.

4. Within the scope of those rules, you may feel free to have fun here (I sure will). Sarcasm, wit, half-wit, nit-wit, parody, satire, puns (especially puns), etc. are encouraged.

FOUR PRINCIPLES THAT DEFINE TRUE CONSERVATISM:

1. Respect for The Constitution

2. Respect for Life

3. The Smallest Possible Government

4. Individual Responsibility

This blog is about my philosophy of government, which is a very conservative philosophy.

You are not required to agree with me (although you would be better off if you did).

I am biased toward conservatism, and make no apologies for that.

Freedom means not being controlled by the government, that being the very reason we declared our independence from Great Britain.

Government's job is not to provide things for people, but to provide the opportunity for people to persue the things they want via the vehicles of freedom and responsibility.

SPECIAL REPORT

The Obama Dictionary

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO LEARN, READ THESE

FAIR USE

FAIR USE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.